Shawnee Group of the Sierra Club

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Shawnee Trails Newsletter

October 2000

The September General Meeting of the Shawnee Group will take place at the Unitarian Fellowship building, at 7:30 PM, on October 12, 2000. The Unitarian Fellowship is located at the corner of University Avenue and Elm Street, in Carbondale, Illinois.

This months program will be presented by Gary Kolb, presenting his photographs taken in national parks. Hope to see you there! 

Dinner Before Meeting: Join some of the Executive Committee, the speaker for the evening’s program, and other members for dinner at Mugsy McGuire’s 1602 W. Main, at 5:45 p.m. on October 12 before the meeting.

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Chamber of Commerce Yard Sale!

Our Yard sale was a complete success. Thanks to all who donated items. Thanks to all who worked at the booth and who priced the items for sale. Especial thanks to Anne Hill who provided the garage and Tom Bik and Laurel Toussaint who organized everything and provided transport for the yard sale goods. We raised over $700.

Shattered Solitude:

Off-Road Vehicles on our Public Lands

<<www.sierraclub.org >>

The Gallatin National Forest in Montana is just north and west of Yellowstone National Park, and it is one of the last places in the lower forty-eight states where grizzly bears still roam. But the Gallatin and its grizzlies are being threatened by irresponsible motorized off-road vehicle (ORV) use.

All across America, irresponsible ORV use -- driving all-terrain-vehicles, four-wheelers, motorcycles and snowmobiles off designated roads and into the wild -- is threatening National Forests, parks and public lands from the Everglades to Alaska.

Right now, there are almost half a million miles of roads available to ORV users on public lands. But increasing numbers of ORV users are driving off designated roads, leaving the trail and tearing up streams and wildlife habitat, polluting our air and water, and damaging wildlands that belong to all Americans.

That's why the Sierra Club and other conservation groups are pressuring federal land management agencies to stop irresponsible ORV use and step up enforcement of current laws to protect the wildlands and wildlife that have been left in our care.

ORVs Cause Lasting and Widespread Damage

Twenty years ago, the White House Council on Environmental Quality recognized the fact that: "ORVs have damaged every kind of ecosystem found in the United States...In some cases the wounds will heal naturally; in others they will not, at least for millennia."

Now, ORVs are bigger, faster, less expensive, and much more plentiful. From 1991 to 1997 annual sales of ORVs more than doubled from 150,000 to 343,000. Snowmobile sales jumped from about 90,000 in 1992 to 170,000 in 1997.

Even U.S. Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck recognizes: "New and less expensive technology allows people to get to areas previously unreachable to motorized vehicles...In the process, unplanned and unauthorized roads and trails may be created, sensitive wildlife habitat disrupted, erosion accelerated, and water quality degraded."

ORV Policy on Public Lands: Inadequate and Unenforced

"Yamaha's engineers are setting wilderness policy for Montana. The ever-increasing technology and capacity of snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles permit, indeed encourage their users to ride ever deeper and higher into our states most pristine -- and still unprotected -- wild lands." Pat Williams, former U.S. Congressman from Montana

The U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and America's other public land management agencies are responsible for protecting our wildlands and wildlife. They have the power and authority to grant limited access or eliminate ORV use on our National Forests and public lands. But the laws that exist now are not being enforced, and the agencies have been reluctant to impose new and much-needed protection measures -- until now.

The agencies have been under increasing pressure from conservation and wildlife groups and other Americans who want to experience quiet -- to camp, hunt, hike and fish in our National Forests free from the roar of engines and the pounding of pistons. Now, both the Forest Service and BLM are in the process of revising their ORV policies, deciding which roads will be closed or designated open to ORV use.

The future health and use of our wildlands is being decided now. Will our public lands be overrun by noisy machines tearing up the land, or will we set aside a quiet refuge for all of us? We have an unprecedented opportunity to protect our wildlands and wildlife -- and our children's natural inheritance.

ORVs and Our Public Lands: An Open and Closed Case

Right now there are half a million miles of roads on America's public lands -- ranging from paved to dirt roads -- open to ORVs. That's more than enough. And the public agrees.

The majority of Americans want ORV use regulated and reined-in. A 1999 poll done by the Mellman Group showed that 67 percent of respondents want ORVs prohibited in the undeveloped "roadless" areas of our National Forests; 55 percent thought ORVs should be prohibited everywhere in National Forests.

Right now we have the opportunity to shape a national ORV policy that:

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Shawnee Forest Master Trails Planning Meeting

The Forest Service will hold its third trails planning meeting on Tuesday, October 10 at the main USFS Shawnee Forest Office in Harrisburg. To get there, go east on Rt. 13 to Rt. 145 in Harrisburg. The office is just south of Rt. 13 on Rt. 145. There will be an optional brown bag dinner before the meeting at 5:45 PM. The meeting will start at 6:30 PM. Goals for the group will be finalized at this meeting, so it is important that we have as many environmentalists present as possible. There will also be discussion on how the Trails Planning Group can participate in the Forest Planning Process.

Discussion on how to achieve the group's goals, along with developing an action list with responsibilities and dates is also on the agenda. To car pool with other Sierra Club members, call Barb at (618) 529-4824 or Judy.

(618) 529-5275.

Hike and Canoe

September 30--October 1

The Shawnee Group is joining with the Kaskaskia Group as we have in the past for a fall weekend at Camp Ondessonk. We will hike Saturday and canoe the Cache or hike Sunday. Camp or sleep in "tree houses." Bring the whole family. Contact Sandy Anderson 618-893-4545

Other Outings

October 21 Audubon field trip to the Cache. Meet under the sign at Murdale at 8:30 or at Touch of Nature leaving there at 9:00. Curt Carter will lead us on a hike in the Cache bottoms. Bring a lunch to eat by or on the water.

He will bring 10 canoes. Return by 2:30pm. Birding at Bellrose ponds. For more information call Stan Harris at 457-7078 or Curt Carter at Touch of Nature 453-1121.

October/November Cache River Wetlands Acorn Pick-Up Bring your rubber boots, gloves and energy to the Fall Acorn Roundup. The acorns collected will be used in reforestation projects within the Cache River Wetlands. Call The Nature Conservancy Office for the specific date and information 634.2524.

JACKSON COUNTY HIKING SOCIETY

To start the fall off with a bang and to put the summer heat, ticks and poison ivy behind us the following hikes have been scheduled:

September 29, Friday, October 1 - Sunday, Camp Ondessonk, Ozark, IL come for the whole weekend or just for any of the scheduled events. Sleep in tree houses, hike, and canoe the Cache River. For more information, contact Sandy Anderson 893-4545 Sierra Club

October 7, Saturday - Lusk Creek, meet at 8 am Murdale or Marion DQ, New Route 13 at 8:30 am, Sandy Anderson 893-4545 or Judy Lewis 529-5275.

November 4, Saturday - Concord Cemetery to Lusk Creek, meet at 8 am Murdale or Marion DQ, New Route 13 at 8:30 am, Sandy Anderson 893-4545 or Judy Lewis 529-5275.

December 2, Saturday - Two hikes for the price of one, Dixon Springs State

Park, hike Ghost Dance Trail and Lake Glendale, hike Signal Point Trail. Meet at 8 am Murdale. People living east or south can meet at the intersection of 146 & 37 at the Shell Station in Vienna, Sandy Anderson 893-4545 or Judy Lewis 529-5275.

January 6-15 2001, A Costa Rican Odyssey

Be a part of a Central American Adventure as Nelda Hinckley, Assistant Professor of Biology at John A. Logan College, leads you in search of broad-billed motmots, snowy cotinga, great jacamar, parrots, toucans, and hummingbirds. You will visit the La Selva Organization for Tropical Studies Field Station, the Arenal Volcano, the dry Pacific lowlands of La Pacifica, the Palo Verde National Park, and the Carara Biological Preserve. Near the last days of the trip the group will head for a trip to the highlands and hotel in the Talamanca Mountains. From there the group will ascend to the highest point on the Pan American Highway (11,000 feet), into montane and paramo habitat. After seeing a great diversity of birds the group returns for dinner at the hotel and the following day will fly home. The cost of the trip is $2,711 or $2,561 if ten people participate. The price includes airfare, lodging, all meals and field trips with a local.

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NEWSLETTER DEADLINE AND FOLDING

Every month we get together to fold the newsletter for the newsletter mailing. We welcome all the help we can get. The deadline for the November newsletter will be October 22 with folding on Thursday, October 26 at Don Lawrence's house at 5:30 PM. To check on directions call Don at 457-8989.

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EXCOM MEETING

Our October ExCom meeting will be held on Thursday, October 19, at 5:30 PM at Cathie Hutcheson’s house. All members are welcome to attend. For directions call Cathie at 529-2022.

SHAWNEE GROUP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE